


Taking the Lead

by lilmaeval (orphan_account)



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: M/M, Mutual Pining, One Shot, Slow Dancing, idk i just think they're neat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-09 04:31:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20497853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/lilmaeval
Summary: If fate has decreed that Lorenz and Claude are to be rivals for life, then Claude should at least have the decency to know how to waltz, or at least Lorenz believes so. The only way to ensure that their competition remain fair is to help the other catch up with his own dance moves.





	Taking the Lead

Whenever the list of student tasks came up, the one Lorenz dreaded seeing his name on the most was hands down stable duty. It wasn’t so much the grueling work itself that bothered him, it was instead that whenever he was chosen for it, out of everyone who could be picked alongside him, he always seemed to be with the one particular person who grated on him the most.

As he approached the stables, horses already outside grazing in the fields with the guards, he saw the back of his partner’s head and felt the dread settle in. Taking a deep breath, Lorenz prepared himself for a long shift. His gait was more of a hefty stomp until quick eyes forced his feet to pause in their tracks. There was no one else there to witness this but him, and yet he had no idea what exactly it was that he was seeing. Hands held out as if embracing an invisible body, Claude was swaying and moving his feet slowly in an odd manner. Listening carefully enough, Lorenz could hear the faint careful counting of numbers. It finally clicked that Claude was practicing his waltz.

It was a strange thing to see—here was Claude, future (supposed) leader of the Alliance, a noble of Fódlan (also supposedly), showing his true colors before the last person who should be seeing them. It was difficult to watch, and Lorenz was unsure if he should feel smug or distressed. He normally would have loved to catch Claude in a moment of weakness and exploit it to his heart’s content, but at the same time, he could not help but feel a great deal of embarrassment. This was their house leader, and he could hardly even keep to the measure he was counting. Why had his parents raised him like this?

Lorenz was beside himself when viewing Claude dance. Could he truly let this go on? He asked himself this and his honest answer was that no, he couldn’t. He had to help, whether he liked it or not. The real question was how should he approach? If he just asked, the likely scenario would end with Claude waving it off with a joke and trying to get Lorenz to forget what he saw. With that in mind, it would most certainly be faster to make a direct approach. As Claude slowly turned around in his aimless dance, Lorenz fit himself inside the space of the empty space in the other’s arms. He clasped his left and Claude’s right hands together and wrapped his own right around the smaller man’s waist, pulling him in as shock still laid in green eyes.

“L-Lorenz?” Claude stuttered, shaking his head quickly and remaining immobile. “What are you...”

“I’m saving you from embarrassing your future self,” Lorenz stared flatly, “as well as my own. If you are to lead us as you should, this is just something you must know as easily as you breath. The fact that you are this inexperienced is disconcerting to say the least.”

Claude blinked blankly at the other before letting out a loud snort and readjusting their handhold until their fingers were laced together.

“If you insist, Professor Lorenz,” Claude wryly replied, “I didn’t think to ask you for help because I figured you’d just laugh, but color me shocked.”

“Oh, I did laugh,” Lorenz murmured, “then I realized how badly it would reflect upon all of us if you went out like that at the White Heron Ball, let alone future grand balls in the Alliance.”

“Okay, I get it,” Claude laughed forcefully and pressed his knee against Lorenz’s leg, “can we at least get started? We still have work to do.”

“Oh?” Lorenz’s lips curved into a pointed smirk. “I see you can’t take it when a weakness of yours is known. It’s a shame I won’t be able to use that against you, we shall begin now.”

“Great,” Claude groaned, “I can’t wait.”

After a simple review of the basic formation of steps, they took it slow to start just to allow Claude to familiarize himself with the steps. All the while, the man in Lorenz’s arms kept his eyes glued to the floor, watching his steps and moving carefully. It was such a simple mistake, and yet Lorenz decided to stay silent on the manner. Either he would get it or not, and that all depended on the nobleman’s own teaching skills.

“We’re going to try that again now,” Lorenz stated, “but at the proper pace.”

“What about half the pace?” Claude bargained. Lorenz’s glare brought a sheepish grin to the shorter man’s mug. “Come on, you know that that’s a big leap for a beginner like me.”

“There’s no need to be cowardly,” Lorenz argued, “you know these steps, now is the time to apply yourself. You’re not like this in any other pursuit, why did you even start practicing in the first place?”

“Because I didn’t have you watching and judging me,” Claude answered dryly and ending with a sigh, “but I guess it’s too late to use that excuse. I’ll just have to follow your lead.”

The phrase brought a smile to Lorenz’s face, though nonetheless he attempted to remain straightlaced. After all, it wasn’t right to act like anyone would believe him if he told someone Claude entrusted Lorenz with his leadership. He’d just have to enjoy the moment as it stood then and there.

With a count of one, two, three, four, repeated ad nauseum under his breath, Lorenz swung the two to a silent melody. All the while, Claude kept his focus on his own movements, his mistakes growing the further they went. Lorenz felt the other lurch and prepared himself to follow. Once he lost his footing altogether, Lorenz was left with no choice but to lean forward first and caught Claude in a dip.

“Well, that could have gone better,” Claude attempted to laugh off, grasping Lorenz’s shoulders tightly until he was brought back to his feet, “I told you we should’ve just built up to this speed.”

“I was hoping you’d realize your mistake as we moved,” Lorenz said, once more grasping Claude’s right hand with his left and glancing the brief moment where their palms lay flat together. His own fingers were considerably longer, and as he peered back towards the other man, he could see his attention lay in the direction of their digits as well.

“Which one?” Claude muttered with a chuckle, though his face hardly bore a smile. “Tell me what I can do to fix my movements and I’ll try, ‘cause I don’t know what else I can do.”

“Look up.”

Claude’s chin finally rose, and with it Lorenz could finally see those verdant pools that had avoided his gaze this entire time. in that moment, they seemed to shine, and Lorenz felt the corners of own his lips turn up.

“A waltz is a dance where two people move as one,” Lorenz whispered, “when one person missteps, you both do because that is the nature of the connection you form with your partner. It is inherently intimate, and you rob it of that bond when you are so focused on your own movements that you ignore the person holding you.”

“Uh,” Claude’s mouth hung open with darkened cheeks, the hand on Lorenz’s shoulder fidgeting in its grasp, “are you sure? I wouldn’t imagine you’d want to be anywhere near intimate with me.”

“Come now,” Lorenz sighed, “I’m teaching you for your benefit too. Imagine dancing with someone you want to dance with and they’re doing nothing but looking at their own feet. You don’t have to live in the moment right now, you can just imagine me as the person you want to be dancing with at this moment. All I ask is that you keep looking into my eyes, and I will not shame you for any mistakes we may make.”

Claude was forced silent and responded with only a nod, and thus Lorenz began again. He kept himself quiet as well, wondering if he was perhaps distracting the other with his count. Moving as they did with the only noise in the world being their steps against the wooden floor and the occasional neigh of a horse, it seemed to create a melody all on its own. Their eyes remained linked, and eventually, they were both able to smile at each other.

Their motions ceased, and each were left stood breathing fast. It took Lorenz an astonishing amount of time to recognize how fast his heart was beating, and though they had let each other go, their shared gaze remained.

“Right,” Lorenz cut through the tension with a single word, closing his eyes before turning his head towards the direction of the tools that lay unused by the doorway, “I promised I wouldn’t take too long. Let’s get to work.”

“Yeah,” Claude mumbled, following suit.

The rest of the evening was not all so silent, but it did lack a certain bite. Usually, whenever there was a task involving the two, Lorenz would complain and Claude would mock his work ethic. Lorenz would defend himself and Claude would attempt to outdo him. It was all rather exhausting, but the work was almost always done perfectly without fail. Today, the work got done just as well, though much faster than usual. Nonetheless, due to the time they took earlier practicing their dance, they finished at about the same time they always did, and once they were done they parted ways with hardly a word exchanged between them.

Once Lorenz returned to his room, he sat at his writing desk and brandished his pen. With hardly a word spoken to himself on the matter, he wrote them down in a sonnet and wondered what in the world was he going to do with himself.

* * *

The White Heron Ball was but a day away, and once again stable duty awaited both Lorenz and Claude. Though in class and in battle they appeared no different from how they were before, Lorenz could at least feel a change in their relationship. Rather than following Claude to keep an eye on him for his father, he was instead curious to watch him for Lorenz’s own interest. Likewise, though Claude’s reactions to such behavior before was just to ignore it, he started instead to play along and began to tease him more often. No one else suspected any change, but at least for Lorenz he wondered the integrity of his own morals.

Years he spent waiting to meet his soulmate, a woman of high standing who could excite his heart as well. He had struggled to make such a connection and earned the reputation of a skirt chaser all the while, something he had to constantly explain himself for other people to understand. Maybe it was because he’d never felt this way about another person before, he thought he could escape from those feelings all the same. He didn’t think through how difficult it would be to look into the depths of another’s eyes and try to forget what he saw there.

Today would be the day he’d need to fully confront himself and either learn to let go or fail entirely at everything he had worked toward his entire life. Arriving at the stables first, he opened the doors and immediately got to work. It was truly a wonder how easy it was to feign having a good work ethic when trying to move on from something that hadn’t even begun.

The trill of violins played from far off graced Lorenz’s ears, prompting him to turn his head in their direction and hear their song. There he saw Claude, leaning against the frame of the entrance with arms crossed and wearing an impish grin.

“Sounds like a final rehearsal,” Claude noted as he nodded in the head of the music, “perfect for dancing, wouldn’t you say?”

Lorenz gently laid the shovel in his hand against the wall and stood his ground where he was.

“If you are looking for a partner, then you should ask,” Lorenz lectured, “it is only polite to state your purpose. A dance is an act of transparency, after all.”

“Alright then,” Claude grinned wider as he stood up straight and held out his hand, “then Lorenz, may I have this dance?”

Lorenz bowed his head and took Claude’s hand in his own, pulling him in and finding his arm going around the other’s waist as Claude grasped Lorenz’s shoulder as they had done before.

“You still wish for me to lead?” Lorenz questioned, their hands that held each other slowly lacing their digits together.

“At least in this,” Claude admitted, “I like it when you lead here.”

“The goddess as my witness,” Lorenz lamented as he began their steps, “if only I was not the only one to hear you say that. No one else will believe me.”

“That’s alright,” Claude laughed, “you can just ask me tomorrow, can’t you? Then everyone will see what an excellent teacher you are.”

“You ask,” Lorenz shook his head and spun them faster, “you’re the one who seems so eager to learn when I’ve taught you all I could. I just helped you catch up.”

“Wouldn’t it make more sense if the one who leads is the one who asks?” Claude challenged, keeping pace far better than Lorenz had expected. “You should definitely ask first, I promise I don’t have any schemes planned.”

“Oh? You promise?” Lorenz raised a brow. “I didn’t even ask if you had any. What  _ did _ you plan to do if I did nothing?”

“I don’t know, be bored,” Claude shrugged, “grab a dance from Teach, throw in a few drops of my special medicine in the beer barrels. Whoops, guess I told you, guess you better ask me to dance so I won’t do it for real.”

“Isn’t that reversed from how it goes?” Lorenz scoffed and swung them faster still. “I know so I could easily implicate you. Therefore, you must ask.”

“Guess we’re at a stalemate then,” Claude smirked, “if I don’t ask, you’ll tell on me. If you don’t ask, I’ll unleash hell on the school’s sewers. It’s a tough call, so let me throw in another bargaining chip.”

Before Claude could continue, Lorenz halted their movements and caught the man in a dip, both of them breathing heavy. Claude wrapped his arms around Lorenz’s neck and slowly, with the knuckles of one hand, caressed a few strands of Lorenz’s hair away from his face.

“I’ve been wracking my brain how to tell you this,” Claude admitted in a weaker voice than normal, “so I guess I just gotta get it out there as is. I’m going to be so upset if I ask you to dance and you say you’ll only dance with women. While on the subject, I may as well also admit that I’ve never felt so soft or delicate than when in your arms like this, and it’s something I don’t want to miss out on.”

Lorenz, with a face burning as hard as the beat inside his chest, swallowed back his pride and pulled Claude back up. Instead of resuming their fast paced waltz, he swayed the other man in his arms. There was no other person fit to remain in his heart, it had finally been filled.

“I wouldn’t reject you,” Lorenz promised in a murmur, “if anything, though, you’re right to assume I didn’t think I’d be dancing with anyone other than a woman. Though, if I were to dance with you, I wouldn’t dance with anyone else ever.”

“Wow,” Claude chuckled and pulled himself deeper into the taller man’s arms, “so this is what it feels like to be sweet-talked by the great Lorenz Hellman Gloucester.”

“I do not ‘sweet talk,’” Lorenz defended himself as he tightened his hold around Claude’s waist, the building pressure beginning to sting, “I merely state my feelings with as much enthusiasm as I experience them; and I do experience my emotions deeply.”

“How deep?” Claude asked, pressing his chin against Lorenz’s chest.

“Very much so,” Lorenz answered, turning his own head down to meet his dance partner’s eyes and felt as his heart skipped a beat upon noticing how close their faces were.

Silence engulfed them once more, but without the uncertain air that engulfed them previously. He found Claude’s hand with his own and held so tight that it hurt, but neither complained. He leaned down and closed the gap that separated them and indulged in an affair that was sure to turn heads one day, but for now was a simple little union of two hearts that found their perfect dance partner.

**Author's Note:**

> tbh i'm only posting this cuz it's like, why not, might as well get some sort of contribution in if i'm in this deep. i think i did a better job portraying lorenz than claude but it is what it is, it's like less than 3000 words. anyway, hand holding can be so intimate actually.


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